JOIN THE ARMY / DEJA VU TOUR UPDATE #3

We're sitting half way through the tour now, on our way to Texas and hopefully some warmer weather, so far it has definitely been a suicidal journey of conquest and carnage ha! Some much needed days off are being eaten up by some equally needed long hauls on our bus, now named 'The Black Pearl' as we make our way across the nation bringing the SxTx Army show to the masses. From San Francisco we headed east to Vegas, 'House Of Blues' was killer, with skating legend, Z-boy and Dogtown Skates owner 'Red Dog' Jim Muir swinging by to check the show, great to see him back on his feet and looking well.

The stage invasion was awesome, as was the action on the blackjack tables after the show hell yeah! Arizona brought an entire army of SxTx fans to the two radio show / festival slots that we had, backed up by a couple of crazy good sets from the Deftones as they finished up their album tour, so good to see the huge crowds getting loose, saw a few teeth flying and a few heads clashing in the pit, some seriously good fun to be had by anyone keen to get amongst it, really enjoyed those shows. The signing tent shenanigans were hilarious, the kids, the ladies, the OG's and the crazies, was great! Up the mountain, Colorado Springs and 'The Black Sheep', another f*#king awesome crowd and show, it's awesome to see the everlasting impact SxTx has on people, young and old, one guy built us a custom SxTx BMX bike (Check the slideshow for the photo), a wicked machine indeed, gotta say many thanx for the wheels but now we all each want one! Columbus and 'The Alrosa' brought the wildest crowd yet, 'Dimebag' might have been there laughing as a string of minor problems seemed to plague us from blown up amps, beaten up security guards, lost property and more.

A full on effort from the house staff and security managed to bring the mayhem into check long enough for us to belt out the set. Watching the cleaner mopping up the blood from the floor at the end reminded me of the old days, what can I say, a f*#ken heavy crazy crowd, off the chain! Deeeeee-troit! Holy shit that place is weird ha ha, 'Harpos' is in the rough end of town, good to see people brave the cold and the crack-heads to get down to the show, a classic venue for a classic SxTx show, people are totally going mental for the new/old shit, the No Mercy tracks are simply some of the most fret-burning, smoking sick, freakin insane things you'll ever hear, SxTx as good as it gets, Clark and Deano are playing it so hard at the moment, I have no idea how they do it, but their shredding so hard it's making my fingers bleed ha ha. Milwaukee, and the haunted 'Eagles Club', the (hed)PE guys are killing it at the moment, really representing hard, ripping the gigs apart, turning each show into a bouncing punk rock hip hop slamming and jamming bash, am lovin it! The pool downstairs here is creepy as, but the skate park down the road is all time, DJ Product was ripping the bowl ha ha. Cleveland and..... we can't get to the venue because Obama is there, so we sit, we wait, we wait a little more, is he buying some tickets to see Bruners bass solos? Is he secretly gonna check out the show, not even! An election speech at the University instead, but I'm sure he's got the whole SxTx catalogue stashed in his crib somewhere. So far it's been such an awesome trip, long miles, bus breakdowns, dodgy gas station food, but overall one of the best tours ever from a band that seems to still be smashing the boundaries of what you can and can't do on a stage, breaking the conceptions of what's possible with guitars and a drum kit, and bringing it to the people with immense force, solidarity and conviction. Finished up last night in the bar at 'Pops' in St Louis, gateway to the West, the gateway to the Suicidal Army!